The Lightning will honor the 10-year anniversary of its 2004 Stanley Cup-winning team tonight when it hosts the Canucks at the Tampa Bay Times Forum:
Chase is the proud presenter of the 10th Anniversary platform and will provide all fans in attendance with a replica of the actual Stanley Cup ring that was distributed to the players following the championship.
The night will feature appearances by a number of alumni from the 2004 team as well as the trophy they captured, the Stanley Cup. Alumni expected to attend are captain Dave Andreychuk, Ben Clymer, Jassen Cullimore, Chris Dingman, Pavel Kubina, Brad Lukowich, Fredrik Modin, Stan Neckar, Nolan Pratt, Andre Roy, Tim Taylor and Cory Stillman.
The staff will be represented as well, as Vancouver is coached by then-Lightning bench boss, John Tortorella.
Aside from the free bling, tonight’s game is fairly important for, y’know, the actual teams participating in it.
With a win, Vancouver has the chance to move just one point back of Dallas for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference. Phoenix -- who is tied with Dallas on 75 points but sits out of playoff positioning because it has more games played -- takes on the Kings tonight in Los Angeles, and would take over the last wild card spot with at least one point gained.
Vancouver has just one regulation win in its last nine but has managed to stay in the thick of the playoff chase by manufacturing points. The Canucks won their second shootout in a row on Sunday afternoon in Florida, beating the Panthers and ex-goalie Roberto Luongo by a 4-3 score.
For Tampa, the key for tonight is keeping the good times rolling. The club is coming off consecutive wins for the first time since Jan. 23-25 -- they Lightning beat Florida 5-4 on Thursday, then blanked New Jersey 3-0 on Saturday night.
With a win tonight the Bolts could jump one point ahead of idle Toronto for third place in the Atlantic Division and draw even with second-place Montreal in points, with 81.